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He thought he was forevermore destined to have his heart broken by his true love, at least it was what he believed would be. But little did the Prince of Hearts know, when one day a mortal girl entering in his church asking for his help will lead the story to an unexpected direction.
It all begun with a ridiculous - and laughable - pray, ‘so desperate and pathetic’ he thought.
People with a broken heart would do anything to find their own happy ending, even asking for the help of a Fate.
And who could play the game well more than Jacks?
Nobody.
So that’s when it all began. With a hopeless romantic rose gold haired mortal girl sealing a deal with the infamous Prince of Hearts.
Not even the story curse would ever imagine what a crying heart was capable to do.
No one was prepared for what happened after that ‘deal’.
Love was never the answer, is what Jacks used to believe.
This until he met Her.
Until he fell in Love with her - again.
And if she'd never come for him,
he might've drowned in the melancholy.
He swore to himself to never love someone.
Not all stories end up with a happily ever after - especially his.
He had a sickly obsession with Donatella Dragna, the Fate could not care less if she would never love him. He would have done everything in his power to make sure she would stay with him for the eternity - so he manipulated her.
This was the ‘perfect’ plan.
This until she entered in his world.
Right before she lit his sky up.
Evangeline Fox. The Forever Love of his life - who was now peacefully sleeping in his arms.
The woman who he was irremediably in Love with and who was able to change his fate.
The woman which he loved her so much he’d rewritten history. He went back in time to save her life because there is nothing of equal value to him.
Evangeline saved his life. Saved his cold heart from the cruel fate of living an ‘immortal’ life alone in an endless misery.
When he was convicted that nothing could ever have saved his aching and lonely soul, there she came.
He was ready to gave up and burn his heart but Evangeline demonstrated that Love can win over anything - even break a curse.
And the first kiss of the Love of his life was nothing comparable with the one who was his true love. It felt so real. So lively.
And the kisses that were after. Oh Lord.
He developed an addiction to kissing his Little Fox.
He was so addicted to those small soft pinky lips of her.
Evangeline Fox tasted like Heaven.
“Jacks?” her sleepy voice interrupted his vortex of thoughts. His wife shifted and carefully changed her position, now lying on her side with her head on his chest. Precisely on his beating heart, who seemed always to lull her into sleeping - or calm down her nerves.
“You okay, my Love? Why are you awake?” he whispered, his left hand reaching her now pronounced round stomach to caress it.
“I felt our baby kick, I swear they want so much attention and cuddles” she giggled.
That giggle meant the world to him in that moment.
And suddenly he was brought back again in their present.
He wasn’t anymore Jacks the Prince of Heart - though his fame will be remembered for eternity - or the Archer. Now he is Jacks of the Hollow, husband of Evangeline.
And soon to become a father.
“Well, if my little Elina(*) wants attention she should and will have it!” he chuckled, his hands tracing circles on his wife’s belly. Evangeline relaxed under his touch, “We don’t know if it’s a boy or a girl,” she smiled exasperated. Although Jacks continued to affirm that they were having a baby girl. Evangeline suspected the same, her motherly instincts telling her that.
But don’t tell that to Jacks, it could be dangerous for his ego
The Fate and his Fox were happily married and waiting for their child to come into their lives - girl or boy it didn’t matter.
“Were you far away from me again?” she asked him, concerned for what’s happening inside his mind, “You silly Little Fox, there’s no other place I’d rather be than here with you.” though she could barely see in the darkness of the room, Evangeline knew for sure Jacks flashed her his characteristic smile with his dimples.
“Sometimes I hardly believe that you are here with me, alive.
I can’t erase from my memories the image of you dying. I held you but it was too late, I arrived too late. Your body was so cold, I could have set the room on fire to warm you up but it would have been futile. You were gone and I couldn’t save you. I should have been more caref-“ Evangeline forced his lips towards hers, she kissed him tenderly but Jacks kissed her desperately.
She was the centre of his universe, his whole existence.
When they pulled back for air, Jacks closed his eyes and put his forehead over his wife’s.
“You saved my heart from a terrible fate,” “You saved mine, Jacks.
I made a deal with you with the intention for helping me have my ‘lover’ back.
Instead I ended up falling in love with you and that’s the best thing ever happened to me,” Jacks heard her sniffing, he brought the hand which was resting on her stomach to her face, wiping the tears away with his thumb.
“You are the best thing that ever came into my life, Evangeline.
And only you possess the key of my heart. All because you came for me.
To save me, to save us.” Jacks gave her a lingering kiss, pouring all Love into it.
“I love you so much, Jacks” she said before closing her eyes and laid her head under his chin. Jacks took her left hand and kissed the rose gold ring on her finger, “But I love you more, my dear Little Fox”
‘ All this time, I lived alone in my grief
You were just desperate but kept going on,
because you firmly believed in yourself
Now I can see all your light
Late one night
You dug me out of my grave and
Saved my heart from an awful curse ‘
The moon and stars watched from above that intimate scene of the two once broken hearts, now loving and taking care of each others. There would be no space for lonely nights, not now and never, not now that the Archer finally found its happy ending with his beloved.
Nowadays the tale of the Archer and the Fox is still narrated but no one knows its ending.
No one will ever know the true ending of the story of the - not anymore - cursed boy, leave it there to Jacks himself.
There will be no more of the cursed Archer,
no more of the wicked Prince of Hearts.
From now on he is Jacks of the Hollow.
End of the story.
‘ Sweet dreams Elina, your parents can’t wait for your arrival. Especially your father.
May the stars guide you in your path in this twisted world ‘
Perhaps the Start of a new story…